As soon as the Canon G1X MK II was announced, we had an immediate deluge of requests for a TCSTV field test. This surprised Chris and I, as the camera really wasn’t on our radar. Looking at the specs though, we could see what the excitement was about, and put the G1X MK II into our queue.

Our weather was not ideal for a shoot. We had flat light, not a cloud in the sky and we were shooting around noon. When I got back to editing, I once again was amazed at how well the Sony FS700 handled the crazy contrast the light presented. I’ll never take that dynamic range for granted.

For lenses, I used the Tamron 24-70 F2.8 VC, on a Metabones Speed Booster. I recorded the footage to the new Atomos Samurai Blade, which is quickly becoming one of my favourite tools. The waveforms were invaluable when I was trying to expose in such harsh light. Audio was recorded with a Sony UWP-130 wireless system. I’m a huge fan of all things funky, so the track Beatsuite.com provided for the skateboard shots makes me very happy.

At the end of the shoot, I think our disappointment with Canon G1X MK II is not due so much to it being a bad camera, there’s just a lot of amazing cameras competing in the style and price point. The Canon camera has too much trouble distinguishing itself. I was especially disappointed with the video capabilities, as the potential is there for a very compelling option for low budget and documentary shooters, but Canon continues its mantra of “If you want control, you have to buy an SLR”.